History of Béarn

In 820, King Louis the Pious made of Béarn an hereditary
Viscounty granted to one of the Duke
of Gascogne's sons. In 841,
Morlaàs replaced the former capital Lescar, which had been
looted by the Sarracens. In the 11th century, Viscount Gaston IV the
Crusader promulgated the For (right) de
Morlaàs, a kind of chart that restricted the seignieurial
powers and established an equitable tallage. Every new viscount
should "swear the For". In 1194, the capital of Béarn was
transferred to Orthez.

In 1290, the house of Foix received
Béarn by marriage. The most famous
Count of Foix and Viscount of
Béarn was Gaston III (1331-1391) Fébus (the Brilliant
or the Hunter), whose motto was toque-y si gauses (touch it if
you dare). Fébus exerted an absolute power and did not care of
the Fors. He convened in Orthez a rich court with poets and
troubadours, but was also involved in more violent acts. He ordered
the assassination of his brother and murdered himself his son during
an argument. Fond of hunting, Fébus wrote a venery treaty
and maintained a pack of 600 dogs. Aged 60, he died near
Sauveterre from a cerebral hemorragy when returning from bear
hunting.

In 1464, the new ruling house of Albret transfered the capital
of Béarn to Pau. The Albret were small Aquitan lords, who eventually owned the County of Foix, Béarn and
Lower-Navarre thanks to the protection of
the King of France and wise marriages.
In 1527, Viscount Henri of Albret
married François I's sister, the brilliant Marguerite of
Angoulême Marguerite was
described as follows: "a woman's body, a man's heart, and an angel's
head". Her daughter Joan of Albret, however, was said "to be a woman
by her sex only". She married Anton of Bourbon, a descendant of
Louis IX (St. Louis), thus explaining why their son Henry IV
claimed the throne of France after the death of the last Valois king,
Henry III. Joan became Queen of Navarre, since the Salic law was
not in use in Béarn, and abjured catholicism for the reformed
religion. King of France Charles IX sent an army that seized Pau and
forced Joan to flee to La Rochelle.
Montgomery captured Pau and the queen came back five months later.
Joan married his son to Marguerite of Valois (la Reine
Margot), the daughter of King of France Henry II and Catherine de
Médicis.
In 1572, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre took place six days after
Henry's wedding. Forced to abjure protestantism, Henry did it
solemnely only short before being crowned King of France in
1589. He is said to have said then Paris vaut bien une messe
("Paris deserves at least a mass"). Béarn was incorporated to
the kingdom but kept its autonomy status. Henry said: "I give France
to Béarn and not Béarn to France" and bore the title of
"King of France and Navarre". Béarn was eventually annexated
in 1620 under Louis XIII, but the province kept its Parliament and
States, called Cour de Béarn (Court of Béarn) in
Pau until 1789.

In the south of Béarn, the mountain valleys of Ossau, Aspe
and Barétous kept until the Revolution a system of political
autonomy, often called "pastoral democracy", which was based on the
aforementioned fors. Feudal taxes, serfdom and gabelle (salt
tax) did not exist there. The pastures were a collective property,
divided into three parts rotated each year between the shepherds. The
pastures of Pont-Long, located north of Pau, are still divided
between the herds from the three valleys according to medieval acts.

Ivan Sache, 17 December 2002

Flag of Béarn

In his Notice historique sur les blasons des anciennes provinces de France (Historical note on the coats of arms of the ancient French provinces, 1941), Jacques Meurgey says that the arms, ercalling the local pastures, are very old; the Béarn cows showed up on coins and seals as early as the 13th century.
Insisting on the blue elements and the unusual heraldic words required
to describe them, Meurgey uses accolées instead of colletées to describe the collar.

The cows (vaches) are often believed to recall the ancient Iberic tribe of Vacceans, who were subjugated by the Romans in 100 BP, and are said to be the ancestors of the Béarnais.